DHTML Lab: Hierarchical Menus, III; Frames

IMPORTANT NOTE:This column introduces a new version of the hierarchical menu script. All information is valid at the time of writing. New browser versions released after publication may not behave as outlined. The script is constantly under revision, with new features added, problems fixed and new browser versions addressed.Read this column, and future columns, to learn how we built the menu script.Use the most recent version of the script, always available in HierMenus Central.

This tutorial can be appreciated by users of any browser, any version. The in-line examples will work only in Netscape Navigator 4 and Internet Explorer 4 for Windows.

The hierarchical menus developed in column 14 and column 15, have proven to be a huge success. The most oft-asked question since then has been: How do I get the menus to work in a frameset?

Pass your mouse over the links in the left frame. The menus will appear in the main frame. Scroll the main frame and try again. The menus again appear in the correct position. This is the technique that we'll discuss in the present column.

Prerequisites

An understanding of the concept of frames, the HTML required to create them and the JavaScript frame referencing standard. To refresh your knowledge, you may read Dan Brown's Framing the Web, here at WebReference.

Familiarity with the Cross-Browser Hierarchical Menus script, developed in column 14 and column 15. The present column will deal only with the adaptation of that script to pages contained in frames. The complete script, however, will be repeated for reference.